pecan Archives - Sugar et al

Caramelised White Chocolate Doughnuts

4|05|2014

I share a little shopping ritual with my twin boys. If they are joining me on a grocery trip to the supermarket, they would get to pick and choose and eat their favourite doughnuts. The supermarket is located inside a busy shopping centre and though many of the popular doughnut outlets also happen to be on the same floor, they always want to pick the doughnuts from the bakery section in the same supermarket. The obvious reason for that is the colourful inviting displays are very suitably placed within the eye level and even reach of a small child. Marketing strategy at its best. So each time not one but two of the combo packs tinted in bright shades and strewn with colourful sprinkles land up on my shopping trolley.With a constant supply of outsourced doughnuts, my blog has completely missed the opportunity to make some at home. But since the time I’ve discovered caramelised white chocolate I’ve developed an uncontrollable urge of dunking everything into it…muffins, cupcakes, eclairs, cookies and even store bought doughnuts. That is if I am able to convince the boys to buy the non-glazed ones, especially cinnamon doughnuts. Caramelised chocolate with a little spice is the next thing to Heaven…is all I can say. So I thought it was time to post a doughnut recipe.

I’ve tried out a few baked doughnut recipes before but they’ve never turned great so I was on the lookout for one. This one is way better (from Sally’s Baking Addiction) than the rest and is soft with a great texture. Though I personally feel that a baked doughnut never measures up to a fried one, keeping health and convenience in mind these are pretty good. You can use the fried ones as well and I am sure they would taste amazing too. The caramelised white chocolate is the star of the show so really anything dunk-able would do.

I think I have mentioned before that I use David Lebovitz’s recipe and method for caramelising the white chocolate. It always works for me. It is a simple process (explained really well) and all that it requires is some patience. The results are worth it. The recipe will yield more caramelised white chocolate than needed to glaze the doughnuts. To use up the rest of the chocolate, you may want to look at this cheesecake or this mousse. I’ve added toasted chopped pecans mixed with a little bit of chocolate sprinkles to decorate the doughnuts. Feel free to play around with the decorations.

The original recipe for the doughnuts using a doughnut pan made 8 doughnuts. Since I used individual pans which may be slightly bigger than the size of a regular doughnut, I got 6 out of the batter.

Caramelised White Chocolate Doughnuts
Yields 6 large or 8 medium doughnuts

For the baked donuts (adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction)
1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour (careful not to over measure)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/3 cup (65g) granulated sugar
1/4 cup (60ml) milk
1/4 cup (60g) Greek yogurt
1 large egg
2 Tablespoons (30g) unsalted butter, melted
1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 recipe caramelised white chocolate ganache, lukewarm
1/4 cup toasted, finely chopped pecans, to decorate
chocolate sprinkles, to decorate

For the caramelised white chocolate ganache (makes about 2/3 cup)
1/2 cup caramelised white chocolate (using David Lebovitz’s recipe)
1/4 cup heavy or thickened cream

For the baked doughnut: Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Spray a donut pan with non-stick spray. Set aside.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, and granulated sugar together in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Whisk the milk, yogurt, and egg together until smooth. Add the melted butter and vanilla, whisking until fully combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Do not over mix. The batter will be very thick.

Pipe the batter or spoon the batter into the doughnut cups. Since the batter is quite thick it is easier to pipe it in. You can use a ziplock bag in case you don’t have a piping bag. Cut a corner off the bottom of the bag and pipe the batter into each donut cup.

Bake for 9–10 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Allow the donuts to slightly cool before glazing.

For the Caramelised White Chocolate Ganache: Place the caramelised white chocolate in a medium bowl. Bring the cream to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat and pour over the chocolate. Leave aside for 5 minutes and stir with a spoon till smooth. Cool slightly before glazing the doughnuts.

The chocolate ganache sets completely when cooled so the glazing would have to be done before the ganache cools completely. In case, it becomes hard, warm slightly while stirring with a spoon and it turns to a liquid consistency.

To Assemble : Dip the cooled doughnuts into the caramelised white chocolate ganache and turn to coat evenly. Transfer each doughnut onto a wire rack over a baking sheet to catch the glaze drippings. Take each doughnut and dunk again if you have enough glaze leftover. Sprinkle with toasted pecans and chocolate sprinkles in your desired pattern.

Coffee Pecan Cookies

5|12|2013

So I’m back! With more Cookies, of course. Sooner than you had imagined? You see, when you were reading all about the Nutella filled Linzer cookies, I was already baking a batch of these and making the tastiest glaze ever to decorate them with. You guessed it! I used the same dough to make these.

In fact after making about 12 Linzers, I rolled the dough into a log, covered it in plastic wrap and refrigerated it. Later on I rolled the log on chopped nuts to get a nice nutty coating around the circumference of the cookie when sliced. Then it was a matter of just baking them and dropping a spoonful of coffee glaze on to them. The glaze is super simple and ready in 2-3 minutes. Though in doubt about the quantity of coffee to add to the glaze, I am glad I went with my instincts. The glaze is gorgeous and so strongly tasting and smelling of coffee which is why I loved it all the more.

Isn’t it fantastic that you can get two completely different cookie recipes…both tasting and looking great from the same dough. And quite a generous number of cookies too. I got 12 Linzers and 14 of these. I thought it would make such a great gift idea when you are looking to simply things and yet come up with an assortment of cookies.
Think about it…12 Linzer cookies, 6 filled with Nutella, 6 filled up with jam or lemon curd. And 14 of these cookies, 7 with a coffee glaze and other 7 with some other flavour…probably peppermint considering the season. A few drops of pink food colouring would do the trick with peppermint. And there you have it…a box of different flavoured, colourful looking cookies. You can play around with different ideas, I guess.
Please note, the recipe below is for the entire dough. You can halve it accordingly.

These cookies are by far the best I have made this year. And that’s not small because I bake at least 3-4 different cookies every month. I love baking cookies and gifting them to my friends. I do it all the time.
I think the best way to tell someone that you like them is to make them a cookie.

Coffee Pecan Cookies
Yields 28 large cookies

For the Cookies
1 cup hazelnut meal/ground hazelnuts or any nut meal of your choice
2 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup castor sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 egg yolks
3/4 cup pecans or any nut of your choice, finely chopped
Pecan halves, for decoration

For the coffee glaze
adapted from Taste.com

3/4 cup icing sugar mixture
1 tbsp boiling water
1 tbsp butter, softened
2 tsp espresso coffee powder

In a bowl whisk together the flour, cinnamon and salt.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract and egg yolks. Finally, beat in the ground hazelnuts and then the flour mixture.

Divide the dough in half, roll each piece of dough into a 5 cm diameter log. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm.

Once the log is firm, take it out and keep aside for 5 minutes. Unwrap and lightly roll in the chopped nuts till evenly coated. Wrap each log in plastic wrap tightly again and refrigerate for 30 minutes. This step ensures that the nut coating adheres to the cookies while baking.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Using a sharp knife, carefully cut logs into 1.5cm-thick slices. Place on lined baking trays. Bake for 15-20 minutes, swapping trays over in oven in between (baking time will depend on the size of the cookie. Mine took 20 minutes as the cookies were large) Bake till crisp or until edges begin to turn light brown. Allow to cool on trays for 5 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

To make the Glaze, sift icing sugar into a bowl. Combine boiling water, butter and coffee powder in a separate bowl and stir until coffee is dissolved. Add to icing sugar and stir until mixture is smooth.
Drop 1 teaspoon of glaze onto centre of each cookie. Top with 1 pecan. Allow icing to set. Serve.

Gluten Free Bittersweet Chocolate Chunk and Pecan Torte

3|09|2013

I hope you all had a lovely weekend. Some of you on the other side of the hemisphere had a long one. I wish ours was as long but nevertheless it was a fantastic one. We celebrated Father’s day here in Australia on Sunday. Since my little ones are getting better at keeping secrets we had quite a few surprises planned for Daddy this time. And I was relieved that none of them were given away, innocently.. like the previous years. Between a fancy home cooked breakfast and dinner we planned lunch outside so I wouldn’t end up spending the entire day in the kitchen. But the highlight of the day was this Gluten Free Torte.

My husband is not too much into desserts but a chocolate indulgence here and there doesn’t hurt. So I was not surprised when he chose this Torte out of the options I gave him. Well, if you ask me ANYBODY would. A flourless, butterless cake with bits and chunks of bittersweet chocolate and pecans with the perfect moist gooey texture. It takes a lot on your part to resist the temptation of eating spoonfuls of batter before it goes into the oven and even worse when the Torte is cooling down. I can say with absolute certainty that this is the best thing I have ever baked in my life. My family loved it.

The Torte is actually quite light despite the chocolate overload in it. Needless to say, a good quality chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa butter ( I used Lindt 70% Cocoa) makes all the difference in this recipe. This is such a beautiful dessert whether you are serving it for a dinner party or for a special celebration. Taste aside, what I love the most about this Torte is the way it looks. So rustic…with specs of dark chocolate held together be a delicious meringue. And this is why you don’t need any fancy decoration to go with it even for a birthday party. Whipped cream contrasts the bittersweet flavour perfectly so a dollop of it or simply some swirls on the Torte is enough. Dust a little cocoa powder and there you have it.

Chocolate indulgence..the guilt free way (that’s what the best ‘Daddy’ in the world likes to call it)!

Linking up with the September Chocolate Party.
Bring your favorite chocolate dessert to Roxana’s home baking #chocolateparty and win amazing prizes from OXO, Calphalon, Keurig, Imperial Sugar, Honey Ridge Farms and Land O Lakes® Butter

Gluten Free Bittersweet Chocolate Chunk and Pecan Torte (adapted with variation from Fine Cooking)
Serves 8-10

100 g (about 1 cup) pecans/walnuts, or any nut of your choice (I used pecans and walnuts. As I was running short of the exact amount of pecans, I added some walnuts)
125 g (about 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp ) sugar
250 g good quality bittersweet chocolate (70% to 72% cacao), coarsely chopped
Finely grated zest of 1 medium orange (optional)
1/8 tsp. salt
7 egg whites (from large eggs), about 1 cup
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 180 degree C. Lightly grease the bottom and sides of a 8-inch springform pan.

Pulse the pecans/walnuts with 1 Tbsp of the sugar in a food processor until finely ground. Scrape the nuts into another bowl. Use a paper towel to wipe excess oil from the sides of the processor bowl, add the chocolate with 1 Tbsp. sugar, and pulse until it forms crumbs ranging in size from coarse meal to 1/4-inch bits. Add the chocolate to the nuts, along with the orange zest, if using, and salt, and stir to combine. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar in a large clean, dry bowl at medium speed until the egg whites are creamy white and soft peaks are formed when the beaters are lifted. Gradually add the remaining 1/2 cup sugar, beating at medium-high speed until the egg whites are glossy and stiff but not dry.

Pour half of the chocolate mixture over the egg whites and fold in with a large rubber spatula until nearly incorporated. Repeat with the remaining chocolate mixture, folding just until evenly incorporated.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread it evenly. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the Torte is puffed and golden brown on top and springs back when gently pressed with your fingers; a toothpick inserted in the center should come out moist and possibly stained with melted chocolate, but not coated with raw batter. Set the pan on a rack to cool. Slide a thin knife or a small metal spatula around the sides of the Torte to release it from the pan. Remove the pan sides and transfer the cake to a serving platter.

Serve slices with a dollop or swirl of whipped cream.